Minister Howlin is travelling to China on behalf of the Government for Ireland’s St. Patrick’s Day Promote Ireland Programme. The Minister has a varied and diverse programme of events with a number of meetings with senior Government Ministers and trade leaders scheduled in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing.

On Wednesday 12 March, the Minister will attend a Tourism Ireland promotion event in the Jinjiang Tourism Showcase Space, which will build on Ireland’s recent success at the fifth annual Ctrip ‘Best Tourism Destination’ awards ceremony. Ireland was named “best potential destination” for 2014 at the event, beating off strong competition in the same category from Turkey, Sweden, South Africa, Dubai, Kenya and Queensland.

Ctrip is China’s largest online travel agency and one of the best-known tourism brands in the country, offering travel services to some 90+ million members. The award was presented to Tourism Ireland at a ceremony in Shanghai, attended by about 300 travel industry leaders from around China, including tour operators, travel agents, airlines and travel media.

Tourism and Culture are far from the only priority sectors for Ireland in China. Also included in the Minister’s programme are events designed to encourage business opportunities in the Agriculture, Education, Financial Services and Science & Technology sectors.

During the period, the Minister will also participate in a series of media engagements, aimed at actively promoting the story of Ireland’s recovery.

As usual, the Dáil is in session this week. The Department has a number of written Parliamentary Questions tabled on a variety of issues, ranging from, State board membership; reports/reviews/studies commissioned by the Department since 2011 and Public Service Reform.